"Penelope" by Theatre Elision at Elision Playhouse

It's such a joy to revisit a good show after a period time. As an audience member, but also, I imagine, as an artist too. Theatre Elision staged the new one-woman (and five-musician) musical Penelope last summer, just a year after it premiered in New York. They're remounting it this summer for just two weekends at their home Elision Playhouse in Crystal. If you missed it last summer, you really must see it this year; like most of Theatre Elision's work, it's a musical you can't see anywhere else. And if you did see it last year, you might find deeper meaning and understanding this year, as I did. Penelope really is a gem of a musical, and Christine Wade is even more at home in the role than she was last year (a performance that earned her a Twin Cities Theater Blogger Award nomination). The show is just 70 minutes long, preceded by a bit of Greek trivia, in an intimate welcoming space with concessions. It has more of a concert vibe than a traditional musical, so it's great for music lovers as well as musical theater fans. Just five shows remain - make your Penelope plans now!

"Hundred Days" by Theatre Elision

What would you do if you only had a hundred days to live? What if you had just met your person, only to be told that they only had a hundred days to live? Such are the questions posed by NYC-based husband/wife singer/songwriter duo Abigail and Shaun Bengson (who, spoiler alert, lived more than a hundred days after meeting and are in fact still living). They wrote (with book writer Sarah Bancher) and performed in the autobiographical concert-style musical Hundred Days, and now Theatre Elision is bringing us the #TCTheater premiere. It's a lovely and haunting 80-minute musical with a fantastic folk-rock score, performed by a talented cast/band. As always, if you're looking for a rarely done musical that's new and interesting and different, instead of the same old fare, head to Elision Playhouse in Crystal (continuing through March 22).

"Penelope" at Theatre Elision

Next up in Theatre Elision's tradition of bringing us rarely done (often regional premiere) one-act musicals with a largely female cast and/or creative team is Penelope, about the long-waiting wife of Odysseus. What started as a pandemic project by singer-songwriter Alex Bechtel turned into a concept album, and then a one-woman musical with help from director Eva Steinmetz and book writer Grace McLean (who also wrote Elision's winter show In the Green, and is currently starring in Suffs on Broadway as a hilariously buffoonish President Woodrow Wilson). Penelope premiered in 2023 in New York, and here it is on the Elision Playhouse stage less than a year later. Thanks once again to Theatre Elision for finding this music-theater gem, and no one better to perform it than the luminous Christine Wade, who has been in every Elision show (and often serves as Vocal Director). She's joined on stage by a five-piece orchestra on this gorgeous score that sounds modern yet classical, telling a story of longing, waiting, loyalty, and identity. It's playing for about a month, so you have plenty of time to get to Elision Playhouse to see this new original piece of music-theater that you can't see anywhere else (unless you're planning a trip to NYC this month). 

"Our Town" at Lyric Arts

Thornton Wilder's 1938 play Our Town is a classic of the American theater for a reason. It's a slice of life kind of play (or rather, three slices of life), in which not a lot happens, but everything happens. Our Town tells the story of an average American town in the early 20th Century, filled with average people. While the gender roles feel dated (the men go out to their jobs while the women stay home and take care of the home and family, and everyone is married), the themes still resonate. In fact I find the older I get, the more bittersweet the play becomes. The idea that it's the ordinary days that are the very stuff of life, and we rarely realize their value while we're in them, only becomes more relevant the more those ordinary days stack up behind you. Lyric Arts' new production uses the traditional bare bones style, and adds movement and music to help color the world of Grover's Corners. With beautifully sparse design and a talented cast, they've created something heart-breakingly lovely. You can visit Grover's Corners on Main Street in Anoka weekends through the end of June.